Policy

Consumer- and municipally-owned energy systems are lauded as key elements of the energy transition. However, their market design in many regions is still prohibitively complex. The European Committee of the Regions has presented a policy recommendation to address these issues, and enable a just and democratic energy transition.

On November 2, China’s National Energy Administration held a symposium to evaluate the results of the 13th Five-Year Plan for solar PV development at its halfway point, discussing the adjustment of PV and thermal generation targets in the plan. As a result of this, there is renewed positivity regarding China’s domestic solar demand in 2019-2020.

While recent signs from the Chinese administration, including the National Energy Administration, are that the PV sector in the country will return to robust health, the contagion of the 31/5 policies is still being felt throughout the supply chain. Vincent Shaw in Shanghai investigates the symptoms and causes of Chinese solar’s ill health.

The World Bank and the Kenyan Government have announced a new strategy for attaining universal energy access for Kenyans by 2022. The plan underlines the importance of off-grid solar installations in reaching that goal. The investment opportunities for the coming five years are around US$14 billion.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs is considering scrapping a 6% markup on tariffs paid to high-efficiency modules used in its Green Energy Roof scheme. The markup is said to benefit the local module manufacturing industry, which is currently struggling.

By setting a timeline for the inevitable decarbonization of its fleet, Xcel is moving to have an energy transition on its terms.

The European solar association has called on Europe to set up 5 GW of solar PV module manufacturing capacity to cater to the expected around 15 GW of annual demand.

The EBRD has released a brief urging Western Balkan countries to both replace their aging lignite coal generation capacity with renewables, and to rethink their 18 GW plans for new coal capacity. While the region offers favorable conditions for various types of renewable generation, it has been slow on the uptake to date.

The scheme will provide incentives for solar-plus-storage projects for self-consumption, as well as for projects for virtual power storage.

The Mexican National Center for Energy Control (CENACE) has announced that the fourth long-term auction has been temporarily suspended, due to changes in the management of CENACE and in the Federal Electricity Commission.